The first, and probably most important, step of the project is doing the preliminary planning. This consists of:

- Deciding which inventory method to use
- Equipment required
- Documentation strategies (spreadsheets, etc...)
- The physical division of locations and work plan for processing the shelves (such as dividing up call number ranges and assigning areas to checkers).

In Aleph there are two different inventory methods:

Batch

Checkers scan in item barcodes in their designated area to a flat file using a mobile device and barcode scanner. This list of item barcodes is uploaded to the server, an error report is generated.

Delete Patron Records (cir-23) - Purging

This service deletes patron records where all of the patron's expiration dates are before a specified date.
Accounts with outstanding transactions are excluded by default, however, there is an override option to "wholesale" remove the accounts regardless of existing transactions.

- An output file listing the patrons that were deleted is created.
- An output file listing the patrons that could not be deleted due to some outstanding transaction on their account is created.

Remove Patron IDs (cir-32) - Scrubbing

This service deletes patron ids from transaction records up to a specified date, provided the transaction is complete.

There were two sessions of the New Features Demo re: V.20 on 7/15 and on 7/19. The agenda was the same for both calls (with different presenters in some cases). Times on the agenda are the approximate time that this topic began. On the playback you can fastforward to these topics. It takes Elluminate a little time to catch up, but this feature seems to work well.

During the SharedBib transtion, all connections to the Aleph server will be unavailable. Therefore, at the time of the Offline Circ transaction, there will not be any type of check for blocks, holds, overdues or other patron/circ related issues.

By 6pm on June 22nd, Access Services Departments should be sure to have the Standalone Offline Circ client installed and ready for use.

FYI about Standalone Client:
We recommended using the Standalone client during to:
- Prevent any confusion about the version of the client used, - Allow institutions with multiple library units the flexibility to use the Standalone client during the transition, and then install the new Aleph SBProd20 client by June 28th.